It is possible to get attention by just being there, without drawing attention to you in a heavy way, like the heaviest: shouting. I imagine all of you have now and then visited an open air market where the sales people shout to have people buy their stuff. “Apples, apples, 2 euros a kilo.” Loving the atmosphere of so many sellers and buyers together in that specific ambience I am a weekly visitor. For me it is like going to a special place that never bores me. So many things occur in just one moment at that place. People looking and sometimes admiring the goods to be sold. People discuss the prices with laughter and seriousness, because at this type of market you should try to bargain, it is part of the deal. Children trying to get stuff by pulling their parents and imitating to cry. Market stalls that have musical accompaniment. The sun on your head, lovely! For me it is a weekly experience I really love.
My favorite market is every Sunday in La Nucia. The peak, in this period during autumn, is that you can count around 30 large market stalls with vegetables and fruit and around 150 smaller market stalls with all kinds of stuff. Also you will find places to drink and eat your coffee, beer or wine and a lovely sandwich or tortilla. Not to forget the Spanish churros with chocolate sauce. Or the stand with grilled sausages. Some market stalls with plants and seeds to have in your home or garden or to use in your vegetable garden. Market stalls with second hand clothing and furniture. I always find treasures, like my mother I have an eye to ‘hunt’ for special things. Same goes for the permanent
market El Cisne in Benidorm. It is in fact a kind of open market, but market stalls are there on a permanent basis and sellers can leave their goods locked after the market is closed. According to my husband everything in Benidorm is fake, but I like to make an exception for this market.
Because of our weekly visits, we get to know a lot of the sellers and the buyers as well. I love the connections we build. It brings joy and good feelings. For the fruit and vegetable market stalls we are of course recurring customers, because of the number of sellers we try to differ from whom we buy. So all people get their share. Concerning the other market stalls where we don’t buy on a regular basis, it is enough to give each other attention by having small talks. In the end this is for me the meaning of relations, you need to build, to maintain and now and then restore in relationships.
The same is as we change our role from buyer to seller as we participate at the market of Club Los Holandeses in Alfaz del Pi. This is a club for – mostly retired – Dutch people where they organize activities in the area. They have good facilities like a restaurant where they serve Dutch meals and they have enough space to have a small open market. We were there at their Autumn market, Christmas market, Spring market and Orange market (the Dutch celebrate the Kingdom of the Netherlands and call markets at that celebration day Oranjemarkt, Orange markets). We don’t sell a lot of our products like the sellers in La Nucia sell their goods, in fact we leave with most of our precious products. Reasons vary. First of all, our products like our natural wine, (really) cold pressed olive oil, marmalades and limoncello are super premium products. The Dutch are very economic, sometimes they are even tight, and they typically prefer cheap over quality. They tend to say “in the end I will die anyway” when talking about natural healthy foods rather than processed, food-like supermarket products. I think it is hilarious and interesting at the same time. There is also a market stall from an international hospital with a big Dutch medical crew. In the past I teased the PR woman of that stall with saying, that buying and eating my products would lead to less visits to the doctors in her hospital 🙂
Awareness is growing and growing on that particular market and more and more people there are really interested in our products. Also, they are interested in our events and tasting sessions. We notice that more and more people get to know our Finca Libertad and its activities like guided tours, wine tastings, tailormade group events, corporate events and in the near future intimate weddings (up to 50 people).
Being there with our market stall can lead to more bookings for events and people visiting our bodega shop. For that purpose we always bring our documentation with photos about the possibilities and of course our flyers and my business cards.
Next to that, again, we love to connect with people. So no matter what, the effort we make always pays off. And who knows, perhaps I will find more clients for my special coaching. Once they know the way, they can be shown all the possibilities including my special work in (re)connecting people in their relationships. Relationships are typical for us humans, we can’t do without it.
Warm regards,
Mónica